The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-03-12
TRAINED NURSES.
A Profession which Is Rapidly Receiving
Its Rightfui Place In the World.

Its Rightful Place In the World.
Among the modern occupations
which have merged into professions
none have shown greater advance than
those engaged in by women. 1t is also
somewhat significant that vocations
affecting education and health have al
ways had peculiar attractions for many
of the gentler sex. In the medical pro-
fcssion women have encountered tho
opposition Of prejudice, but have over
come opposition and obstacles and
have added to the influence and charac-
ter of the profession.
Closely related to the medical pro-
fcssion and II most important coadjutor
of 1t, is that of the trained nurse 1t IL
little more than generation since
Florence Nightingale touched the half.
despiscd trade of the nurse and trans
formed it into an honorcd and honoring
profession. II used to be by-word
among the laity that such-and-such o
one would not make q lawyer or ply
sician or merchant, and therefore he
was to take holy orders and enter tho
clerical profession. A similar skepti-
cism prevailed regarding nurses and
nursing. Dickens mercilessly described
the typical nurse of forty years ago
when he portrayed Mrs. Sairy Camp,
against whose entire race Florence
Nightingale led the revolt 1t was MAIN
tanned that anybody could be nurse.
and that ignorance and intoxicating
spirits were admirable hand-maidens ut
the bedside.
The new movement in behalf of y
higher standard for nurses, like all
other reform measures, met with dis
trust where actual antagonism did not
exist. But the tide set in the right
direction so powerfully that it soon
! swept into its current the leaders in the
medical profession. Some cautious,
timid, conservative ones held back on
the ground that this new profession of
the nurse would become strong COM
petitor of the practitioners. Europe
has long since cast aside her prejudice.
Trained nurses are everywhere sought
by the best people in or out of the
profession. The schools for their pre-
paration are considered and classed rs
high and honorable as medical
college, an art school, theological
seminary or q normal institute
In this country the example set
some years since by Bellevue Hospital.
New York City, has had numerous seals
OF commendation and followers. San
Francisco has its training school for
nurses. Others have been established
and are successfully maintained in some
of the leading cities of the United States.
The training school for nurses in Chi
cago stands deservedly high. The young
women who have been educated in it arc
in nowise untitled for any serious duty of
life; but rather splendidly qualified and
equipped for professional services The
respect entertained for those who have
chosen this as their profession is as gen.
eral and genuine rs it is growing and
abiding. The care taken in selecting
those having Il genius or talent for nurs.
ing is of itself Il high compliment to all
who have been honored with graduation.
The confidence won for them since the
founding of the school here is corollary
OF the most universal acceptance. In
these days when so much attention is
devoted to food and its preparation, tc
ventilation, to sewage, to the care OF
the sick according to scientific prin
ciples, and all that these imply, it is en-
couraging indeed that the art of nursing
is given its rightful place in the world
Chicago Inter Ocean.